Spared from what?

Regarding the notion that the alleged Aurora theater mass murderer’s defense offer of a guilty plea “would have spared the public the painful spectacle of a long trial,” are we as a public so fragile that we cannot go through what our constitutional republic’s judicial system provides?

From what exactly are we being “spared”?

We are fast becoming a people that seeks nothing more than the quick and easy solutions.

In psychology, in the religious realm, in every area of our lives, except apparently, the judicial/political arena, we are admonished to look honestly at, and into, ourselves. Otherwise, at best there will be no maturation, no progress of our emotional and spiritual being; at worst the most horrific psychosis, individually and collectively, imaginable.

Kenneth Valero, Littleton

This letter was published in the April 13 edition.

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So, pete, you seem to be willing to accept a life sentence for James Holmes. That wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for the possibility of the death penalty hanging over his head. Maybe, because the death penalty is so seldom carried out, you should be glad we have that as leverage. Then, hope that a reasonable DA would accept Holmes agreement.

peterpi

So, with a death penalty hanging over him, Holmes apparently is willing to accept life without parole. He’d be off the streets. Put away forever. His Batman fixation confined to the four walls of his cell.
But, that isn’t good enough for Mr. Valero. Or the DA. Or you?

thor

Reread what I wrote and try again. Your reply in no way addresses what I wrote.

peterpi

But there is no reasonable DA, is there?
The DA wants the death penalty at all costs.
What part of that don’t you understand?
Holmes defense team was willing to take life imprisonment. The DA said “No!”
So where’s your grand bargaining chip now!?!?

thor

Actually, for what James Holmes did, I don’t want a bargaining chip. My requirements for premeditated with multiple eye witnesses is fulfilled. He deserves the death penalty

peterpi

You talk about the death penalty as leverage to get Holmes to agree to life imprisonment. Then you say you really want the death penalty. It which case, the death penalty wasn’t leveraging anything.
Be careful what you wish for. You might get that death penalty trial, only to have Holmes’ attorneys get the jury deadlocked on the death penalty, in which case, Holmes gets life imprisonment, which is what on offer from the beginning.

primafacie

Don’t they wrap these thinks neatly in a bow after about an hour on television? I swear that’s all it took for Kiefer Sutherland to identify, find, interrogate and conquer everyone from cold-war spies to garden-variety terrorists. A mass murderer ought to be child’s play.

ThePyro

Jeezoots, man….now I’m gonna have the “Don DON” from Law and Order in my effing brain every time I see coverage of this. Thanks…

peterpi

On a serious note,
In NCIS, the investigators have a work room with more electronics and video capability than the Pentagon war room. And a number of times during the show, one of the investigators will pipe up and say something like “Look, boss! I accessed Mrs. O’Leary’s 11th grade chemistry teacher’s files. She was once caught making an incendiary device. Forget the story about the cow!” These people seemingly bust into any records they desire to peek at. Rarely a mention of a search warrant. The network, producers, and screenwriters seem to have no problem with this fictional capability. Judging by the show’s popularity, the public accepts it. But, while it’s a fun show to watch, people accepting that kind of data acquisition capability matter-of-factly is a teensy worrisome.
I mean, we do have a Bill O’ Rights, right? Judges? Requirements before a government search can be done?

ThePyro

Oh, don’t get me started, pete…I like NCIS for the mystery but the technological aspects drive me out of my mind. And NCIS is at least 137.843789% better than any of the others (e.g., Criminal Minds, CSI, etc.) in that regard. Between the dozen or so shows that are on TV, along with the various movies that have taken the same tact, I doubt much of the public understands investigative bureaus, their allowable incursions into private data or their limitations based on civil rights.

peterpi

I agree. But the mere fact that the network, the show’s producers, the show’s actors, the show’s sponsors, and the show’s viewers find nothing wrong with the way this show accesses records with ease, I find disturbing.
I enjoy the show, it has some nice aspects to it, but these characters seemingly flout the 4th Amendment every 5 minutes or so.
And the tech aspects are at times hilarious.
Other police shows also play fast and loose, I agree. The cop shows often don’t understand the Miranda warning. And the PIs on detective shows think nothing of breaking and entering, disturbing evidence, obstructing justice, etc.
My wife and I like watching old movies, and occasionally a Perry Mason movie comes on, played by any number of actors. If a real attorney tried half the stuff Mason gets away with, like deliberately hiding a witness or suspect and bald-faced lying about it, he or she would be in jail for a year before a judge would even consider reversing a contempt of court charge.
I’ve heard that both defense attorneys and prosecuting attorneys complain of a “Perry Mason or crime drama effect”, where some members of a jury expect the case to be neatly laid out in an hour, complete with a witness confessing on the stand.

peterpi

We should hire Hollywood screenwriters as DAs? Assuming that DAs work 8 hours a day, these screenwriters could solve 8 crimes a day — with no commercial interruptions!

http://www.facebook.com/stephen.blecher Stephen Blecher

It won’t cause me any agony if Holmes is tried, but I will be tired of hearing about it every day for months. The victims, the witnesses, and their families will suffer the agony, so we should consider the effect it would have on them.

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